Yasser Arafat Biography Quotes 13 Report mistakes
| 13 Quotes | |
| Occup. | Leader |
| From | Palestine |
| Born | August 4, 1929 Cairo, Egypt |
| Died | November 11, 2004 Paris, France |
| Aged | 75 years |
Yasser Arafat, born Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini on August 24, 1929, came from a Palestinian family with roots in Gaza and Jerusalem. He was born in Cairo, where he spent much of his childhood, and he later maintained that his identity was inextricably tied to the Palestinian national cause. He studied civil engineering at King Fuad I University (now Cairo University), where he became active in student politics. The turbulence of the late 1940s and the dislocation of Palestinians shaped his worldview, drawing him into activism that blended engineering training with organizational discipline.
Founding of Fatah
After brief stints working as an engineer, Arafat moved to Kuwait in the late 1950s, a hub for Palestinian expatriates. There he joined with close comrades Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) and Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) to form Fatah, a movement dedicated to independent Palestinian action. Faruq al-Qaddumi also played an early role. Arafat cultivated clandestine cells and raised funds across the diaspora, insisting that Palestinians themselves had to lead their struggle. The 1967 Arab-Israeli War, which placed the West Bank and Gaza under Israeli occupation, propelled Fatah from an underground network into the core of the Palestinian national movement.
Rise to Leadership of the PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had been established in 1964 under Arab League auspices, initially led by Ahmad Shukeiri and later Yahya Hammouda. In 1969, Arafat, riding Fatah's growing prestige, became chairman of the PLO Executive Committee. He consolidated a broad umbrella that included groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine led by George Habash and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine led by Nayef Hawatmeh, while keeping Fatah dominant. He balanced internal rivals and external pressures, asserting a Palestinian voice independent of Arab state agendas.
Confrontation and Exile in Jordan and Lebanon
In the late 1960s, PLO guerrillas operated from Jordan, a situation that deteriorated into open conflict with King Hussein's forces in 1970. The violence, remembered as Black September, ended with the PLO's expulsion to Lebanon. From bases in Beirut and southern Lebanon, Arafat navigated a tangle of Lebanese politics and a changing regional landscape. He survived assassination attempts and factional splits, including challenges backed by Syria under Hafez al-Assad. In 1974 he addressed the United Nations General Assembly with the line, "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand", securing PLO observer status and international recognition of the Palestinian question.
War, Siege, and Dispersal
Lebanon's civil war and escalating confrontation with Israel defined Arafat's 1970s and early 1980s. Palestinian guerrilla activity and Israeli reprisals culminated in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, ordered by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and coordinated by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. After a prolonged siege of Beirut, international mediation led to Arafat's evacuation; he relocated the PLO leadership to Tunis. The move dispersed the organization but also pushed Arafat further toward diplomacy. He managed fractious internal politics, including the 1983 Abu Musa revolt, and sought to keep the PLO intact amid regional rivalries.
First Intifada and Diplomatic Turn
The First Intifada erupted in 1987 in the occupied territories, led by local committees and embraced by the diaspora leadership. Reading the moment, Arafat moved decisively: in 1988, at a PLO meeting in Algiers, he proclaimed the State of Palestine, accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242, and, under U.S. pressure, renounced terrorism. This opened a channel with Washington. Figures such as Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), Nabil Shaath, and Saeb Erekat emerged as key advisors and negotiators. The 1991 Madrid Conference, organized by U.S. Secretary of State James Baker under President George H. W. Bush, brought Palestinian representatives into direct talks, with prominent West Bank voice Haidar Abdel-Shafi heading the formal delegation. Although the PLO remained behind the scenes, Arafat guided strategy from Tunis.
Oslo Accords and the Return
Secret talks in Norway yielded the 1993 Oslo Accords. On the White House lawn, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands as President Bill Clinton and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres stood by. The PLO recognized Israel; Israel recognized the PLO. Arafat, Rabin, and Peres jointly received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. The Gaza-Jericho Agreement and subsequent accords created the Palestinian Authority (PA). In 1994 Arafat returned to Gaza, after decades in exile, to build governing institutions and security services. He won election in 1996 as the first President of the Palestinian Authority.
Building the PA required balancing security cooperation, institution-building, and political pluralism. Arafat relied on trusted lieutenants, including Jibril Rajoub in the West Bank and Mohammad Dahlan in Gaza, while critics such as Hanan Ashrawi and independent civil society figures pressed for transparency and reform. Israeli politics also shaped the process: Rabin's 1995 assassination by Yigal Amir was a devastating blow. Under Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, and later Ariel Sharon, implementation stalled and trust eroded, even as interim deals like the 1997 Hebron Protocol and the 1998 Wye River Memorandum punctuated the timeline.
Camp David, Breakdown, and the Second Intifada
In 2000, President Clinton brought Arafat and Barak to Camp David for a summit meant to resolve final-status issues: borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and security. The talks ended without agreement. Competing narratives about what was offered and why the summit failed quickly hardened. After Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, widespread protests spiraled into the Second Intifada. Israel accused Arafat of orchestrating violence; he rejected the charge, asserting that the uprising was a popular response to occupation. The cycle of attacks and military operations devastated lives on both sides and dismantled much of the Oslo-era cooperation.
Under intense international pressure, Arafat appointed Mahmoud Abbas as the first Palestinian prime minister in 2003, followed by Ahmed Qurei later that year. Internal tensions surfaced over control of the security services and the direction of negotiations. The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush kept Arafat at arm's length, even as it articulated a two-state vision. By 2002, 2004, Israeli operations largely confined Arafat to his Ramallah compound, the Muqata, further weakening his ability to travel and to manage factions. Rival Palestinian currents, including those associated with Marwan Barghouti and the Islamist movement Hamas led by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and later Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, complicated the landscape.
Illness, Death, and Succession
In late 2004 Arafat fell gravely ill while besieged in the Muqata. He was evacuated to a military hospital near Paris, where he died on November 11, 2004. The official medical description referenced a stroke and related complications; the precise cause was the subject of continuing debate and investigation. He was buried in Ramallah in a temporary mausoleum, with plans voiced for eventual reburial in Jerusalem, a city central to his political vision. Mahmoud Abbas succeeded him as PLO chairman and later won the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, while Ahmed Qurei continued as a key political figure during the transition.
Legacy
Arafat's legacy is inseparable from the modern Palestinian national movement. To supporters, he embodied steadfastness and the strategic shift from armed struggle toward diplomacy, symbolized by his 1974 UN address and the Oslo handshake with Rabin. To critics, he presided over an opaque, personalized system that failed to deliver statehood or a durable peace and tolerated, at times, militancy that undercut diplomacy. He forged alliances, navigated bitter rivalries with leaders such as Hafez al-Assad and Ariel Sharon, and worked closely with lieutenants like Abu Jihad, Abu Iyad, and Mahmoud Abbas to keep a heterogeneous movement under a single tent. Across decades, he moved from clandestine organizer in Kuwait to a global symbol, a man with a keffiyeh who insisted that Palestinians be recognized as a people with rights, even as the realization of those rights remained elusive at his death.
Our collection contains 13 quotes who is written by Yasser, under the main topics: Justice - Freedom - Peace - Resilience - Human Rights.
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